PSU - not good enough ?

[VCDHunter]

I'm powering my PC with a 300W PSU which I dont think is upto the task. My PC is as follows -

AMD XP 2000+
2 Seagate Barracuda (80 + 120 GB)
NVIDIA Geforc 4 Ti 4200
Liteon CDRW 40x12x48
Creative DVD
1 USB Webcam
1 USB ADSL Modem

Now the case itself has 6 fans on it - but I only have 4 running as when I connect up the final 2 fans the system locks up when I power up. It runs through to the WIN2K login prompt then freezes.

Do I need another PSU ?

[SaSi]

If adding the last two fans causes the system to freeze, then the problem is certainly related to these two fans.

However, and although it probably has to do with power, ensure it does not have to do with cabling. Perhaps these two fans take power from a certain cable or plug close to memory/cpu and the fans themselves cause electronic noise. Try to connect these fans as fans 3 and 4 and see if the system still has problems.

A better PSU is always welcome in a modern system, however, lack of power is not causing sudden and repeated lock-ups that way. I would expect your system to fail (lock-up) in various points, after booting, while counting memory, etc.

If you have access to a multi-meter, connect it to the +5V and +12V jacks of a spare HD plug and check the voltage. If it is +5 and +12 +-2-3% then I would guess the power is OK. If (for example) +5V seems to drop below 4.8V and +12 is below 11.6V then your power might be drained too much.

[VCDHunter]

If adding the last two fans causes the system to freeze, then the problem is certainly related to these two fans.

It is indeed. The last two fans are on the side of the case and I've tested them with the case as far away from the rest of the PC as possible but its the same problem everytime. I shall try unplugging some of the other fans and see if I can get these to "problem" fans running.

Cheers !

[flaninacupboard]

As far as i knew, the ATX spec says 5V and 12V +/- 10% doesn't it? so that'd be 4.5V and 10.8V. But to be honest if they were always that far off i think i'd just buy a new PSU anyway!

[pyrate83]

Buy a more powerful PSU...it won't hurt you anyway....can only help improve things.

[SaSi]

Buy a more powerful PSU...it won't hurt you anyway....can only help improve things.

Well, in general it won't hurt, except your pocket, maybe

I had a similarly frustrating problem with my own system. It was home-built back in late December 2002. I added the DVD recorder back in January, a second 200Gb in February and a third one in March.

A couple of months later, I started getting funny errors from the system. It kept "freezing" for a couple of minutes and then back to normal. This was usually happening during encoding or ripping. Always during intensive disk I/O. I investigated the system events monitor and discovered errors that a disk was not responding within the appropriate timeout period. I decided this disk was faulty and removed it. Later, another started having the same problem. To cut this short, I bought a 450W low-noise PSU for almost 100Euro. No problems for two months.

The interesting thing is that before removing the PSU, I checked the +% and +12 volt outputs. +5 was lower than 4.8, as I recall, and not really steady. It swinged between 4.78 and 4.85 if I remember correctly. With the new PSU, it is rock-solid at 4.98V. Hence, my point in checking the voltages. When the PSU is stressed, it cannot provide the power requested and as I am told, switching PSUs will tend to drop the voltage to deliver the extra Amps requested.

BTW, if you really need all these fans, (which I can understand), perhaps try to get the count split between +12 and +5V. You can find +12 fans and they tend to be much more powerful (in airflow). This will "use up" some of the +12V power which tends to be underused in new systems. Look at your PSU. It will say that +5 & +3.3V output must not exceed xxxW. This is because the same circuitry provides +5 and +3.3 - which is heavily used by the CPU and memory, as well as 4X and higher AGP VGA boards. So the PSU may be stressed hard in the +5/+3.3 part and be underused in the +12V part.

[VCDHunter]

Well, in general it won't hurt, except your pocket, maybe

Right new PSU it is then

[Craig Tucker]

My PSU is only 330W and I think I have a lot more drain on my system than you have on yours.

[Will Hay]

Check out the AMD processor page, it tells you the minimum PSU for each of their processor's.
I remember when I bought my XP2000+ the chart said I was fine, but any more and I would have needed to upgrade.
Will

[Will Hay]

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W.

[VCDHunter]

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